Chapter 50

I basically fucked around for the rest of the day. I moved the horses, mules, and donkeys into there regular area around the barn and seriously considered having a stronger wooden fence put up since Vanina had claimed to have built several out of crossties and rough-sawn lumber. It was definitely on my list of things to do.

I also took over the job of cleaning and oiling all the guns we had and it was more than a few hours work. In fact I could see a couple of days worth of it stretching out ahead of me. After I'd piddled most of the day I decided I was being a complete dumbass about the whole house in the cave deal and I began letting the girls into the planning. Of course it called for a trip out there and the girls did Vanina and me one better. They brought a tape measure.

Kahlila took control of the pad and pencil while Jerrilyn, Jacky, Selene, and Christine handled the tape. I could see it was going to take a full railcar load of soapstone to even lay this job out so I concentrated on saying yes ma'am, no ma'am, and I don't know ma'am for the rest of the day. I didn't have to wonder about the water-well and septic tank after they were done because they had it all drawn out to their specifications. My only job was breaking the news to Vanina the next morning.

The girls took pity on me though and they fixed a big supper, fucked me half to death at bedtime, and fixed me an even bigger breakfast the next morning along with three of the large thermoses of coffee to take out to the jobsite as a peace offering. The even promised some edible treats for around ten AM.

I scrambled out the door when I heard Vanina's pickup pass by on the way to the cave and I was just in time with the coffee since several of his men were about to open theirs for the first cup.

"You must have talked things over with the women and have new instructions," Vanina said, as soon as I got out of the Hummer.

"How did you know?" I asked.

"I figured you were being a little lax about the details yesterday and with all the women around I thought you must not have talked things over with them or you'd have been more specific.

"Does it need to be much larger?" he asked.

"No, not really, much bigger, but I do have a place marked out for the septic tank and the well now," I said.

"Well, we won't be doing that anyway, but you'd better call Fix Your Well pretty soon, because I've heard he's behind schedule. He'll know the best person to get to set the septic tank too since he's the one who makes them."

I went over the details with him and we hit one more snag. I thought it would be a big one, but he didn't. He'd planned on building the small house on pier and beam, but the girls had assumed it would be on a monolithic slab, and we made that change right away. He did point out I'd need to get a plumber out here before they poured the concrete though. He even recommended one and I wrote down the phone number.

He set his men to digging the foundation and called the building materials place for some rebar, remesh, and visqueen vapor barrier. He wanted the men there would be multiple women out checking their work and they had better do a good job the first time because there would sure as hell be a next time if they didn't.

Like any geek who was watching men work the time got away from me and the women were out with the homemade fried pies and donuts before I remembered to warn of their upcoming arrival. It didn't create a problem at all. When I tried one I knew why. They were delicious.

While we were having our little snack Vanina asked me if I could move the helicopter out of the way and so I fired up the four-wheeler, attached the fork to the front tire and pulled it outside.

"Do you fly that thing," he asked me.

"Nope, but I can ride it just fine. Jan and Sharon do the flying, don't you girls?" I asked, and they admitted it and then hopped in and moved it up onto the helipad.

The rest of the girls went back into the house after the pies were gone and Vanina reminded me again about calling the plumber, so I headed that way too. I had learned my lesson though and I asked the girls about the plumbing before I called. They demanded I call the one who'd put in the expanded bath and said they'd talk to him when he got there. I took the cowards way out and got them to call.

The plumber must have been impressed with the promptness of payment last time because he was out within half an hour. Jerrilyn took him into the bath he'd just finished and then told him they wanted one just like it out in the cave, but they wanted a giant hot tub this time too. She let me take him to the cave.

I was glad to see he knew Vanina and they seemed to get along well. He gave Vanina the lowdown on the size of the bathroom and Vanina stopped two of the men who were digging on the foundation right away. It seemed we needed an increase in size after all. No matter, all was well after they got their lies straight.

Thankfully there was nothing left for me to do and I headed back toward the barn where our weapons waited. It made me remember I'd need a room to do such in the new house we were having built and I had to go back and speak to Vanina again.